The Core Contingency: First Contact
by The Mulletron
Summary: It has been five years since the doctors plans for world domination had been thwarted by the scout robot. But with the island beckoning a greater evil towards it, who will come to save it this time...
1. Prologue

Hello one and all, the Mulletron here, with what I hope to be a promising new Cave Story fanfic. To tell you the truth, I'm quite nervous since this is the first book I've written since I left secondary school! My writing ability has improved alot since then, but you'll be the first people to witness that change, oh well. I don't have much else to say here other than I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Oh, and on a final note, my only excuse is that I suck at beginnings.

Disclaimer: All characters, settings etc. belonging to Cave Story is copyright of Pixel Studios. This story is copyrighted to me.

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The Core Contingency: First Contact**

**Prologue**

It was a cold night with a clear sky. Mottled with stars shining with a full spectrum of intensities, and crescent moon hung high among them, casting a silvery glow on the lands below, the first of which to catch its glow was a windswept island. Floating higher than any mountain, It moved gracefully across the sky, carving a path through the clouds.

Standing on the peak of this island, on a barren hill, stood the ruins of an ancient village. White marble which shone under the light of the moon, lay in broken pieces. What were once great buildings now lie scattered across the hillside. The only building which could be recognised as such stood at the top of the hill. It stood in defiance against all the forces that would tear it down, from the winds that pounded every surface to the ravages of time, but to say that it survived unscathed would be a far cry from the truth. Of all the rooms and corridors that made up this building, only the tower at its centre remains. Cracks and scars gained from many battles mar its once untarnished surfaces, the most noteworthy of which is on the top floor, where the roof and most of the walls were blown away from what could only be described as an explosion from within. This tower, which bore witness to many events that were seen by few, and remembered by fewer still, stands as a testament to the incidents which befell the lands it rests on.

But, although the village was abandoned centuries ago, it was not completely desolate. Amidst the rubble, a creature stirred, trying to pick its way through this scene of destruction. Whilst this creature was foraging for food, it looked up at the night sky, and witnessed a most peculiar phenomenon. It was a shooting star, but a very unusual one. It started with a bright flash of light, which looked like nothing more then a small blip from where the creature sat, but nonetheless looked out of place. It then streaked halfway across the sky leaving a bright white trail, and then, instead of fading away, it stopped dead in its tracks. Its trail then faded away behind it before disappearing completely. This creature sat there and watched this spectacle until it disappeared from sight. But, what was this creature?

...It was a critter. Nothing more, nothing less. And within the confines of its primitive mind, it tried to comprehend what it just saw, to make sense of this strange event. But, despite its best efforts, it came up with nothing, and dismissed it as some random occurrence. You couldn't blame it really. A being of greater intelligence would've probably done the same. But little did it know of the implications this phenomenon would have on his world. In fact, that shooting star is an omen of worse things to come, foretelling tales of an evil that would plunge the island, and the lands beneath it, into a world of pain and misery. But why, you ask?

Because that thing was no shooting star...

* * *

Sitting amongst the shifting sands of the harsh and unforgiving Sand Zone, the Storehouse once served both as a shelter against the scorching heat, and, as its namesake suggests, kept supplies for use by travellers and local populaces alike. But, like so many other buildings of its time, it now lies empty and disused.

But although it has long outlived its original purpose, but was still of some use, for one person at least, for at far end of the storehouse, lay a person who was just coming out of a long but fitful coma. She was a mimiga, a sentient, humanoid species, with large eyes, lop ears, and covered with a thick layer of white fur. This girl in particular had a feature which distinguishes her from the rest of her kind. It was a reddish tint that covered her cheeks, just below the eyes. She would've looked quite pretty, if she wasn't in such a bad state. Her fur was dirty and matted, pocked with distortions, under which lie scars, that are all but fully healed. Her green dress, which had its own collection of rips and tears, clung awkwardly to her body. Several sizes too small, it was made for someone half her age. Beneath her lay a crude mattress, made from straw stuffed in a hard wearing sack, which kept her off the hard, dusty floor.

She stirred. her entire body slowly coiled up into a foetal position, giving out a soft groan as she did so. Sleep lidded eyes slowly fluttered open, eyes, though gazing out onto the world, remain unfocused as her mind still tried to pull itself from its long slumber. Thoughts and memories moved randomly through her mind, clumping together, forming a picture of her world. Her eyes began to dart around the room as she grew vastly more aware of her own presence. As she started to regain her motor functions, she put her hands beneath her, and pushed herself roughly into an upright position, her entire body was stiff, atrophied muscles straining under the pressure.

Once in an upright position, she arched her back, and with arms out-stretched behind her, she proceeded to stretch the top half of her body. Then, slowly she got to her feet. Her legs though shaking, slowly lifted her off the floor as they regained their strength. But as she straightened her body a rush of blood went to her head, making her dizzy. She quickly grabbed her forehead with her right hand, propping herself up against the wall with her left as her body slumped towards the ground. This brought a few things into perspective, like the fact that her body ached all over, and, along with light-headedness she also had a pounding headache.

She looked around at her surroundings, hoping to find some answers. Instead she found nothing but the cold, dark walls of the storehouse. "Where am I?" She said to no-one in particular, still in a state of trance. She pushed herself away from the wall, and took a few uneasy steps towards the centre of the room, and as she did her memories that were slowly drifting together in her conscious started to gain momentum. What was a hazy picture now started to turn into a mosaic of her life. And as she continued mull through this new information, one memory in particular made her stop in her tracks, and her fur stand on end.

Then it dawned on her. _'This is that awful place he took me to'_ she thought as she looked around the room, a renewed sense of fear gripping her, as her mind frantically tried to recollect her memories on the Doctor. She could remember him talking of red flowers when she was in captivity, she could remember him ordering someone to take her to the 'Storehouse', and she could remember a huge monstrosity looming over her, forcing huge clumps of red petals down her throat. She could still remember the awful, bitter taste of them, which made her gag with each mouthful she swallowed. She then remembered someone, forcing that monster back, standing between it and her. _'Who was it? King?'_

"King!" she exclaimed out loud. With renewed vigour, she started looking for a way out. _'Perhaps King is nearby. He'll know how to get us home!'_ But, as she searched, her eyes rested on something that sat on the far side wrapped in a purple shawl. King's shawl? She approached it slowly. "King?" she called out hopefully. No answer. She continued to approach it, calling again hoping for a response. None came, not a movement, not a sound. When she drew near, she recognised something protruding from underneath the shawl. Her heart skipped a beat, when she noticed that it was the lower half of a femur bone.

"No..." she whimpered. A tear fell down her cheek, fearing the worst has come to him, yet she refused to accept it. "No!!!" She broke out into a run. She refused to acknowledge what her eyes are seeing. She still clung onto the desperate hope that he may still be alive. Thoughts passed through her head. _'Perhaps that's someone else.' 'Maybe he's outside.'_ Her mind kept feeding her these thoughts in an attempt to steady her nerves. But when she reached the body her breath caught in her throat. In front of her was the unmistakeable corpse of King, a telltale scar etched across his skull.

She cried out in despair as tears flooded from her eyes, shaking hands clasped loosely around her mouth. She turned away from the corpse, for although the flesh has all but completely rotted away from his bones, that did little to subdue the horrifying scene laid out before her. She felt sick. King, the person who cared for her all those years after her brother's death, the person who swore to protect her, now lies dead, and there was nothing she could do to change it.

She looked over her shoulder, taking one more look at his skeletal form, and she noticed something she failed to see beforehand. In a hand which stretched out from beneath his shawl, rested a simple, leather-bound book. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she knelt down in front of the skeleton, reached out with a shaky hand, and gingerly took the book away from him. She wiped the tears out of her eyes, and then opened the book. On the front page it said 'The Memoirs of King, Leader of the Mimiga Village'. She flicked through the pages, looking at the odd passage. A few excerpts in particular jumped out at her.

'More reports are coming in from outlying settlements about attacks from a "Red Demon". Personally, I think they've been spending too much time on their own.'

As she read the passages, she noticed that each one had a date written above it, like some sort of diary.

'I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes. It came into the village through the reservoir. No wonder people called it a Demon, it was a monstrous creature, with large claws and fangs that could do things that I dare not even think about, let alone write. If Arthur hadn't have confronted that creature, we would've had to evacuate the village, and lose untold numbers of lives in the process. I envy that man. He had the courage to stand up to that creature, whereas I would've turned tail and run.'

That last paragraph made Toroko's heart grow heavy. Reading about Arthur, her brother, brought back many memories. King rarely talked about Arthur, especially after his death, and no matter how much she pestered him, he would never open up. She searched the book for more entries about her older sibling, but instead stumbled upon a name which made her body go stiff.

'I've just received some disturbing news. Someone reported a large blocky grey creature moving past one of the remote Mimiga settlements. They sent someone to ask me who it was. I know full well who it was. Balrog, a servant of the Demon Crown, which means that someone has taken the blasted thing! Haven't our ancestors suffered under the yoke of that damnable crown for long enough! The only other thing they managed to glean from this encounter was that he kept mentioning someone named "The Doctor". Wasn't that what the research team called one of their members? I knew they meant nothing but trouble.'

After that point, each entry bore progressively worse news as the island succumbed to the Doctors rule. Stories of attacks and abductions grew more frequent as Toroko turned each page. Then, she found a passage which brought back many painful memories.

'Damn it all to hell!!! We were almost out! We almost got the refugees to safety! But he came out of nowhere, and he descended upon us so quickly, we barely had the time to run. If Arthur hadn't turned and fight, we'd all be dead. I could only watch on, helplessly, as he fought bitterly with the Doctor. When we returned, he was already dead, the Doctor long since fled the scene. I can't believe he's actually gone. I still can't get my head around the fact that we're burying him tomorrow.

I still haven't told Toroko yet. Oh God, what am I going to tell her! Arthur was the only family she had left, she'd be crushed. I made a promise to Arthur that I would protect her in the event of his death. I scoffed at him for making such a promise, now it looks like I'm going to have to keep it...'

She remembered when he told her about Arthur's death. It still brings a lump in her throat whenever she thinks back to Arthur's burial, saying goodbye to the last of her family. She continued to flip through the book. Things happened quite quickly after that. Sue's appearance, the scout robots arrival, Toroko's abduction, the arrival of the rest of the research team, and then the subsequent trek into the Sand Zone to foil the Doctor's plans. She then reached the last entry. This entry stood out from all the others. Lashings of blood streaked across the pages, and the handwriting, which was normally impeccable throughout the book, now looked rushed, the words scrawled onto the paper as if it were written by a shaking hand. Tears began to fill in Toroko's eyes once more as she began to read the passage.

'I couldn't even keep his promise, I couldn't protect her...I let the Doctor take her away, like he took Arthur...I've given the scout robot my sword...perhaps he can succeed where I have not...This was all my doing...all my fault...I only hope in the afterlife...my ancestors have the kindness to forgive me...'

"I'm sure they will." Toroko said in a barely audible whisper. She closed the book, and clutched it tightly to her chest, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. And it is there she stayed, for an indeterminable amount of time, in silent mourning for all the things that she had lost...that is, until something from within the vast darkness of the warehouse interrupted her.

"So. You're finally awake." The voice startled Toroko, causing her to turn rapidly and rise to her feet, hurriedly drying her eyes whilst doing so.

"Who's there?" she called out in the general direction of the voice.

Upon those words, a man stepped out of the shadows. "It is only I" he said calmly. He wore a green hooded robe, which covered his entire body, barring his face, which held very plain facial features, and pair of sandalled feet, which protruded from the bottom of his robe. His face had a solemn expression, and his hood came over his eyes, adding a sense of mystique this person.

Toroko backed away slightly, wary of the stranger in front of her. "Who are you?" she said with a degree of uncertainty.

"You may call me, Cthulhu." he answered "You need not fear me."

Toroko's head started filling with questions. Questions that she wanted answered. She wanted to blurt them out all at once, but instead she settled on asking them one at a time. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I merely came here to check up on you." he answered as calm and as steady as before.

"Why?" She responded.

"Does a man need a reason to perform an act of kindness?" he answered in the same even-toned voice as before.

"No...I guess not." Despite his reassuring words, it did little to ease Toroko's anxiety. In fact, the way the man spoke unnerved her. It was almost as if he spoke with no emotion at all. She glanced over her shoulder, at King's remains. "What happened here?" she asked, with a hint of sorrow.

"Several years back, the Doctor came here to gather the red flowers here in preparation for his invasion of the surface world, and to test their potency he had you force fed those flowers. King also came here in an attempt to stop him, and upon seeing you he tried to rescue you, but he was too late. you had already ingested too many of the flowers."

"Then, that means that I..."

He nodded solemnly. "In his anger, King tried to seek vengeance against the Doctor, but he got mortally wounded in the process. Eventually you succumbed to the power of the red flowers, and fell into a fervent rage. It required a grievous amount of bodily harm to subdue you, and if I hadn't intervened in the aftermath, you would have died. But, despite my best efforts, you slipped into a coma."

"How long was I out for?"

For a fraction of a second, he considered giving a different answer, one which would be easier for Toroko to swallow, but instead, settled on telling the truth. "Five years."

"Five...years?" She echoed, not quite comprehending what was being told to her "...how?" She asked, it being the only question she could think of.

"Though the worst of its adverse effects were neutralised, it still required time for the red flowers to be purged from your body, fortunately the flowers also had enough energy to keep you alive without any food or water."

Whilst Toroko was taking in this information, another question flashed into her mind, one which has been at the forefront of her mind since she first woke up. "What about the Doctor?"

"He's dead." He said nonchalantly "He was killed by the scout robot before he could put his plans into action."

To hear that the one which caused her so much suffering is gone. It felt as if a huge weight has been lifted from her mind. She then looked up to Cthulhu, one more question nagging at her. "Do you know the way back to the village?" She asked hopefully.

"These sands shift constantly, so I can't plot a safe course for you, nor can I guarantee your safety." Toroko's heart sank when she heard his reply. All she wanted was to go back home. "But," he continued "I know someone who could. Her house is not to far, about an hours walk from here."

Toroko's eyes drifted back towards the remains of King, resting behind her. "What about him?" she said, a hint of sorrow creeping back into her voice. "I can't just leave him here."

In response, Cthulhu moved roughly in front of her, kneeling slightly so that he was at her eye level. "Well, what do you think he will want?"

Toroko turned her head, but, not quite able to hold his gaze, she settled for looking towards the floor. She mulled the question over in her head for a few seconds, before remembering a small conversation she had with King a while ago. Tentatively, she said "He always said that if he ever died, he wanted to be buried in the village's graveyard, next to Arthur."

Toroko then noticed a small smile tug on Cthulhu's face, it was the first show of emotion that she had seen from him. "I think he will like that." he said. After a brief pause he stood up straight, and moved towards the door, picking up a small brown sack at the room's entrance.

"Here, take this." Cthulhu said, handing the sack over to Toroko. "I'll be outside if you need me."

"Thank you." Toroko said meekly. Cthulhu then turned and left through the door, leaving Toroko alone.

She stood there, her mind wandering to the trials which lay ahead of her. Could she make it back to the village? And even if she did, would they accept her back? Would they even remember her? And now facing a future without King, she even questioned whether she could face these problems alone. She looked down at the bag in her hands, and although she didn't know exactly what to do, she knew that doubting her resolve isn't going to get her any closer to home, so she placed the sack down beside her and set about the task of taking her fallen hero with her.

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A/N: I'm sorry about the fact that mot much happens in this chapter. To be honest there wasn't any way of avoiding this, but this chapter should get the ball rolling. The next chapter should get more interesting as I add more characters into the fold. Well regardless, please read and review.


	2. Chapter 1

I'm back, with another chapter for this story! Now I must apologise for the lateness of this chapter. I was planning to update around early/mid December, but writers block, Christmas, and various other things got in the way. Ah well, hope you enjoy!

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**The Core Contingency: First Contact**

**Chapter 1: First Steps**

It was a sunny day down on the surface, the afternoon sun casting a golden glow onto the clouds, that drifted lazily across a blue sky. The surrounding lands below were fairly remote, the hilly landscape covered in vast stretches of forests and grassy meadows, and a river meandering through the lands, sitting at the bottom of a valley, carving the land into two uneven pieces. The only signs of civilisation are the odd plots of farmland dotted around the countryside, and a small city far off into the distance, its skyline just peeking over the tall canopy.

In the middle of all this was a research facility, perched on the crest of a small hill, overlooking the surrounding woodland. Away from the external influences of civilisation, it mainly concerned itself with studying the fields of robotics, computer science and botany, among other things. It also doubled up as the Sakamoto's residence as well as a home for all its other employees.

Inside, the facility was relatively quiet, filled with various labs and other facilities, each built to perform different activities. Within the labs, the odd technician could be seen maintaining equipment or overseeing running experiments. Off the side of the main facility, was the living quarters. It was dominated by a common room within the centre of the building, with several hallways leading to personal quarters, and another which lead to the main entrance. It also had a kitchen connected to it, where two people were sat around a table, conversing. One was a woman with long, dark hair, a long white lab coat, and a name-tag which identified her as Momorin Sakamoto. The other was Kazuma, Momorin's eldest son, who sat roughly at the opposite end of the table. He had short hair, and was sporting a similar lab coat to his mother, with the addition of multiple oily black stains supplied by a recent experiment.

Momorin look over to Kazuma, noticing the stains. "You been busy?"

"Wha?" Kazuma followed her line of sight down to his hand resting on the table, which was also covered in black stains. "Oh! Uh, me and Professor Booster were going to test a new arm articulator prototype." As he said this, he lifted his hand off the table, leaving a black handprint on the table. "But the joints needed to be re-lubricated. As you can see, it was quite a messy job."

Kazuma lifted his hands to his face and rubbed his cheek with his fingertips, leaving a few black marks. Momorin chuckled quietly to herself. "That stuff gets everywhere, doesn't it?"

Kazuma did a quick double take before realising what he did. "Uh, yeah..." he said whilst making a vain attempt to rub it off, only making the mark larger. "I should probably get cleaned up." Kazuma then made a beeline to the sink.

"Use the soap under the sink," Momorin said over her shoulder, "and try not to leave black stains everywhere."

Whilst Kazuma was washing his hands, he remembered a conversation he had earlier. "I receieved a call earlier this afternoon." he said whilst finishing up.

"Oh, from who?" said Momorin, slightly curious.

"It was from school. Sue got into another fight this morning."

Momorin sighed inwardly on hearing this news. "Not again." She mumbled quietly to herself.

"It was nothing serious, only a little shoving and hair pulling." Kazuma added, in an attempt at reassuring her. "They said a few kids were bullying her again, that's probably what started it."

"She gets teased so badly." Momorin said, a mixture of sadness and concern welling up within her voice "Is there anything we can do?"

"Well we've tried reversing the transformation process, but the changes are more than just cosmetic, her body has been changed down to the cellular level. Her entire genetic makeup has been altered. We don't even have any technology that could replicate that process, let alone reverse it." as Kazuma was speaking he noticed his mother's expression turn from one of concern to to one of despair. In a bid to give her back some hope, he altered the course of the conversation. "Uh, but we haven't exhausted all our options, we could run a few more tests..."

"No." Momorin interjected. "I don't want to put her through any more tests."

Kazuma could remember those tests well. Though not nearly as bad as what the Doctor put his sister through, they wern't exactly pleasant. Kazuma shook his head, his gaze falling towards the floor. "...I'm sorry. I wish I could be more helpful."

"Don't be. You did your best, and that's all I can ask for." Her words were then followed by a few moments of silence.

Kazuma, head still pointed downwards, was in deep thought, trying to think of a way to solve their problem.

"We could try to talk to her, see if there is a way to help her with her problems."

"We could" she said, nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door slamming shut reverberated throughout the building, which caught the attention of both parties within the kitchen, their heads turned to the entry hall to the common room.

"Heh, speak of the devil." Kazuma remarked.

Sure enough, Sue came storming in from the front hall at a fairly brisk pace. She was wearing a long sleeved, blue sweater which went down to her knees, and a backpack containing her personal effects. But the most striking thing about her was that unlike her mother and elder brother, she was a mimiga. She also had a cross shaped scar just above her nose, given to her from her time back on the island.

Upon seeing her daughter, Momorin put her thoughts to one side and put a smile onto her face. "Hiya, had a good day at school?" she said in a friendly tone.

Without even acknowledging her greeting, Sue disappeared up another hallway towards her bedroom.

"Shouldn't we go after her."

"No, let her blow off some steam first." Momorin said, "We can always pick this up later."

* * *

The Sand Zone was a hostile environment. The vast majority of it was scorching hot, with gale force winds ravaging the cavernous terrain, kicking up the sand into a ferocious sandstorm. The entrance into the warehouse was no exception. It was set against the side of a very long cave, the wind made a howling noise as it entered from one end of the tunnel, that curved upwards and out of sight. The other end meandered a seemingly endless path through the rock.

The heavy wooden doors which covered the entrance parted, and from within the gap created appeared Toroko. She ventured a peek outside, craning her head out of the open door and was greeted by a wall of hot dry air and sand grains, causing her to quickly retreat back inside. Cthulhu, who was standing behind her noticed this. "We must get moving, Toroko." He said calmly.

"Can't we wait for the wind to settle down first?" was Toroko's pleading reply.

"The winds here never let up. If we wait, we wait only for death to claim us."

She didn't like the idea of travelling in those horrendous conditions, but faced with the alternative of starving to death in here, she turned back to the door, and made her way (albeit hesitantly) back outside.

She put a foot outside, onto the sandy floor, only for it shoot back up again. Toroko winced as burning sensations made their way through the pads of her foot. She made a few more attempts until her foot acclimated to the temperatures of the burning hot sands, soon followed by the other foot, then took a few faltering steps into the tunnel. She was shortly followed be Cthulhu, who ensured the door was shut tight behind him.

The cave system that runs through the island would have appeared pitch black to the average, surface-dwelling human, but mimigas were blessed with very good night-vision which came from a life underground. But this was something of a moot point to Toroko, since not only did the sandstorm make it very difficult, if not impossible to separate her eyelids without shielding her face with her arms, the air was so thick with sand grains that even a person with eyes fully open couldn't see further than ten feet in any direction.

"Come, we must keep moving." said a voice, that would have been lost to the wind, were it not for Toroko's acute hearing, another trait shared among mimigas. Following the sound of his footsteps, (or anything she could pick out from the maelstrom around her) she followed Cthulhu closely whilst he led the way, following the wind through the winding cave.

Apart from the odd trip and stumble on Toroko's behalf, the journey itself was uneventful, but throughout the journey, her thoughts kept drifting back to the heavy bag she carried on her back, made all the heavier by the thought of what was inside it. As they made it further away from the warehouse, the winds, much to Toroko's relief, died down, allowing her for the first time to look around and take in her surroundings. The rock walls of the tunnel consisted of various shades of pale yellow. The ground was also littered with ruins. Pillars, walls, even whole buildings could be seen scattered across the landscape, and, although she couldn't make out anything in great detail, it was obvious that the stone blocks were once intricately detailed, but years of wear have taken their toll, heavily worn by decades of erosion.

They eventually reached a building which sat atop a ledge, overlooking an intersection which split off in three directions. The first route stood opposite the building, leading back the way they came, the second went past the left side of the building, veering downwards, and the third was situated above, rising vertically upwards. The building itself looked rather dilapidated, it had no windows, only a simple wooden door, and a crude sign planted into the ground, a few meters away.

Using a pile of rubble nearby as a rough stairway, both Cthulhu and Toroko made their way up to the ledge. From here, Toroko could make out the words "Jenka's House" etched out on the front of it.

Jenka? The name sounded familiar to Toroko, but she couldn't quite place it.

"The maps should be inside," said Cthulhu "I shall wait out here."

Toroko walked up to the door to give it a few knocks, but on making contact with the door, it opened slightly, with a drawn out creaking noise. "Uh, hello?" she asked hesitantly, into the dark building.

"Its perfectly safe to go in." Cthulhu said, but on seeing her worried expression, he added, "Don't worry, she won't mind."

On Cthulhu's reassurances, she opened the door and ventured into the building, leaving the sack by the entrance. Inside, the place was quite cool compared to the conditions outside. It has several pieces of furniture scattered about the room, among them was a broken mirror. It was a simple, rectangular, full-length mirror mounted on a stand, with cracks radiating from the top-left hand corner, but Toroko could still make out her reflection from between the cracks. As she peered in to its reflective surface, she noticed how lean and bony she was, and that she was noticably taller, but what shocked her the most was her eyes. She drew in a gasp as she took in what she saw. They had a reddish tint to them, just like King once had.

Realising that she probably has wasted too much time already, she backed away from the mirror and continued her search, until her eyes rested on an old bookcase, filled with crumbling books and bleached papers. There, wedged in the corner of the bottom shelf, were the maps, wrapped up tightly and tied loosely together with a piece of twine. She pulled the paper from the shelf, and carfully unfurled them on a nearby desk. They were very faded, and the location names were hastily scribbled making them almost illegible, but nevertheless she was able to locate a teleporter not far from here.

She hurried out of the house and made her way to Cthulhu, who was leaning against a nearby wall. "I've found a way home!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Good, that means I can be on my way."

"You're not coming with me?"

"I have business to attend to elsewhere. Here," Cthulhu handed Toroko a water-skin, "drink plenty of water, and make sure you take shelter from the hot environment. Heat exhaustion can kill you very quickly here."

Cthulhu then made preparations to leave, but before he could depart, Toroko interrupted him. "Um, mister Cthulhu..."

Cthulhu stopped and turned to face her. "Yes?"

"Uh...where is Jenka?"

"The same place I left her, seven years ago." And with that, he left.

Toroko stared at a spot on the ground for a few second, not quite able to decipher Cthulhu's cryptic message, but before she could get another question in, he was gone. Toroko began to make her own way home, but as she did she passed a wooden cross planted in the ground. She looked at the cross more closely and found a few words carved onto it. She gave one more glance back at where Cthulhu once stood, and then moved on, walking up the path that would hopefully take her home.

* * *

Sue's bedroom wasn't very large. It had barely enough room to fit a bed, which was positioned on the far side of the bedroom. A window built into the far wall overlooked the bed, bathing the room with natural light. A very worn desk sat in the corner, next to the door, with a computer sat on top of it, and a chair tucked underneath.

Without warning, the door burst open, hitting the desk with such force, the computer monitor wobbled on its base. Sue then exploded into the room, flinging her backpack onto the floor, and slamming the door shut behind her before throwing herself onto the bed. With her back against the wall, and her legs drawn close to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them, she sat there in silence, with the same stony expression she wore on her face since she left school.

Then, gritting her teeth, she banged her head repeatedly against the wall behind her in an act of anger and frustration, releasing emotions that has been building up the entire day. But, the banging slowly gave way to anguished sobs, her head collapsing into her knees.

It wasn't fair. she used to be a popular kid at school. Now everyone shunned her, the worst of them even picking on her, calling her names. Even her friends turned her back on her, all because of what happened on the island. She thought everything would be fine after the Doctor was gone, that when she left the island all her problems would go away, but they only ended up following her home.

Sue loosened her grip from around her knees, taking some time to dry her eyes, and shuffled down the bed until she was in front of the window, her arms resting on the window sill. Hoping the view would help her forget her troubles, she gazed up into the evening sky, the sun already setting behind the distant hills. Her thoughts wandered off back to her time on the island. She had to admit to herself that her time there had been pretty awful, the people there weren't that friendly either, bar one person.

Toroko, when no-one else wanted anything to do with her she alone was friendly and kind. Even though the time they shared together was short, she never had a friend like her. She fed her, she put a roof over her head, she gave so much without expecting anything in return. She never found out what happened to her, after she and her family escaped the falling island, they never returned.

Sue could have done with a good friend like her right now, she would have given anything just to see her one last time.

* * *

An old wooden door, which has remained motionless for centuries, burst open, almost throwing the door completely off its hinges, the dust coating it flying off like a shockwave, and from the gaping aperture, a person staggered into the building and collapsed in the middle of the floor. Cthulhu wasn't wrong about the heat exhaustion. It didn't look that far away on the map, she thought she could make it all the way, but here she was gasping for breath after a long trek in the stifling, almost choking heat, in the shelter of a building, which although was hot by most peoples standards, came as a welcome relief from the intolerable conditions outside. She could still feel the winds buffeting her back.

Then something clicked in her mind. The door was still open. Despite her body's protests, she got herself onto her feet, and made a move towards the door. With a great amount of effort, she pushed the door closed, using her body weight to counteract the force trying to swing it back open. Once the door closed with a click, she slumped down on the stony floor with her back against the door.

Once the strength came back to her muscles, she gathered herself up, and began to take in her surroundings. The room looked like any other place in the Sand Zone, insomuch as it looked like it has been abandoned for years. Toroko guessed that this was a home at some point, since she saw several beds in the next room. Inside the room Toroko resided in, a table stood in the centre of the room with chairs scattered around it standing in different positions, and a bookcase was propped up against the wall, with it's contents scattered across the floor. Various other pieces of furniture were also present, but were too badly damaged to be recognised as such. To any other person with some worldly experience, this would have looked like the signs of a struggle, but to Toroko, this house fell in line with the rest of the structures she visited.

Feeling ready to brave the world outside once more, she was about to turn to the door and leave, but something standing next to the door caught her eye. There standing on a shelf at about eye level, stood a small picture frame. Toroko picked up the frame to get a closer look at it, and in it she saw 4 mimigas, all of differing ages, but all of them very young, not much older than Toroko before she was captured by the doctor. There was also a fifth person but she wasn't mimigan, she looked human, but there was something off about her that she couldn't quite place. She wore dark red trousers, a pink tank top, and had blond hair. She stood there, entranced by the scene in front of her, almost wishing she could be a part of it. Then, Toroko was brought abruptly back to reality when a particularly powerful gust of wind struck the door, causing it to rattle loudly. Remembering that she had to make her way back to the village, she hurriedly stashed the picture into one of her pockets without even thinking, and made her way back outside.

* * *

The journey to the teleporter took Toroko down a steep gorge, which was relatively shelterd from the raging sandstorms whistling above her. When she reached the bottom, she found the teleporter hidden in a small alcove which came off the main cavern.

Teleportation was a fairly new technology brought along by the humans after the war had ended. These self-powered units allow almost instantaneous transfer between two points on the island. But although they allowed for fast transportation, their use was rather limited due to the fact that they required a physical cable connection between the units to teleport anyone between them. They were also incredibly expensive, so only a few were ever placed on the island. They were used by the research team to move between important locations, one of which was Mimiga Village, and fortunately for Toroko, this teleporter had a direct link to Arthur's House.

The teleporter itself looked like a simple steel tube, with a space within the middle of it large enough to fit one person, and a thick black cable leading from the base of the machine to a small computer terminal perched on a nearby stone block. The top of it was lined with lights that on most teleporters would be flashing in various sequences. This one however was dead to the world, the lights, that weren't cracked and broken, lie dormant, and when Toroko inspected the teleporter more closely, she could see the panels were scratched and worn by years of sand blasting its surfaces.

_'Great, this is the last thing I need.'_ Toroko thought bitterly to herself. Looking at the broken teleporter brought back some memories back from her time at the Village, when King insisted that Jack teach her how to fix these things, among a few other odds and ends. She remembered arguing with King about the importance of these lessons.

_"Its essential that you know these things."_ King said.

_"But when am I ever going to need this stuff?"_

_"These skills have saved lives in the past, and with the Doctor's constant attacks, I may not always be there to protect you. You're going to these lessons and that's that!"_

She could remember spending long hours in the assembly hall, bored out of her mind, whilst Jack lectured her about the intricacies of teleporter design. How she wished she paid more attention now.

Faced with no alternatives, Toroko dejectedly set about fixing the broken machine. She pulled off one of the panels near the bottom, and took a look inside. Amongst the sand which has gathered inside the machine, there was a tangled mess of circuit boards and different coloured wires, some of which were frayed and broken.

'_Maybe if I just reconnect these wires, it would work again.'_ was Toroko's eventual conclusion.

Toroko then began the long process of twisting all the frayed copper strands together. After she repaired it to the best of her abilities, she replaced the panel, and flicked what looked like a power switch. After a few well placed hits with a balled fist, the teleporter spluttered back into life, the last of the working lights continuing their long interrupted sequence. Toroko then turned her attention to the nearby computer which she guessed was used to operate the machine. Drawing from almost no experience with using computers, she assumed that "Connection with unit Arthur's House established." was a good thing, and clambered into the machine.

At first, nothing happened. She gave the teleporter interior a quick glance, a confused expression plastered on her face. This is how its done, isn't it? At least, that's how she'd seen other people do it. Then, without warning, her world went white as a blinding light washed over her, enveloping the area inside the teleporter. A few seconds later, the light subsided and she was gone, leaving the teleporter in relative silence. The only sounds were the low rumble given off from the surrounding rock, and the barely audible clatter of the computer's hard drive.

A few minutes passed, and the computer, which message hadn't changed since it was last used, suddenly let out a few warning beeps. New words formed on the computer's screen.

"ALERT

Unauthorized network activity detected.

Activating security protocols..."

"Signal blocked."

* * *

"Searching planetary datalinks..."

"Well? What's taking so long!?"

From within a dark room, voices could be heard, voices belonging to a pair of figures in the centre of what appears to be a control room. Large banks of computer screens line the walls, dominated by three huge widescreen monitors, displaying information which was probably useful to someone. Numerous arrays of computer terminals also littered the floor, built to service an armada of intelligence personnel, but for now lie dormant.

"The civilizations on this planet are well developed, and so are their data networks." came the reply to a question, which probably hung in the air for no more than about a couple of seconds. "But the way in which they're built is so haphazard! There's background chatter everywhere! So disorganized. So primitive." He said, the last part muttered more to himself than to his colleague. "Its going to take time if we are to find what were looking for through all this computer chatter." His voice in which he spoke in was definitely masculine, but it was very high pitched. He also talked quite quickly, as if he was operating at a faster pace than those around him, or to be more specific, his colleague nearby, who was a little displeased with his reply.

"Well don't take all day doing it! If the Collective notices our absence, it will arouse their suspicions, and they will come looking for us." barked the other figure impatiently, his annoyance seeping into his voice. "If they find us here, it will jeopardize the whole mission. We cannot afford to let this technology fall into their hands!" His voice, unlike his companion's, was coarse and gravelly, and was notably louder as well. He spoke every word with a force and authority his colleague couldn't quite muster. He glanced over to the other figure, who never took his eyes off the terminal he was working on. "Are you even listening to me?" he said irritably "They are already technologically ahead of us. If we fall any further behind, we risk losing this war, and any hope of..."

"I've found it!" The other person exclaimed excitedly.

"What?" Was his answer, perplexed by his colleague's outburst.

"The island! Attempting to access the primary 'link node..." he said, followed by a flurry of activity on his behalf.

Shortly afterwards his work came to a sudden stop. "Hmm. My signal appears to have been blocked."

"Why? What now?"

"There seems to be a firewall in place on the network" he said analytically. "No matter. It shouldn't be beyond the scope of my abilities to penetrate it."

"Then why are we discussing the matter?! Break down that firewall, NOW!!!"

* * *

Well, that's another chapter over and done with. To be brutally honest, I wasn't happy with how this chapter turned out, particularly the middle section. I must have re-written about half of that section at least once, and looking back over it, it isn't terribly interesting to read. Meh, its done now, and I think I did a good job on the last section anyways. I might rewrite this chapter at a later date, but at the moment, I really need to get cracking on with the next chapter, expect it in about a month's time. Please leave a review (even an anonymous one), it gives me something to work from.


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